Qatar Charity (QC), with the support of philanthropists in Qatar, has built 11 villages and cities from 2013 to present – at an estimated cost of QR96.5mn – to shelter tens of thousands of Syrian displaced persons and refugees.

These villages fall within the relief projects aimed at preserving the dignity of displaced and refugee families, securing a safe haven for them and easing their hardship by providing them with homes, education opportunities and healthcare services, according to a statement. The model villages include 5,968 pre-fabricated or concrete housing units, benefiting 5,968 families. Some villages have other facilities like schools and health clinics.

Al Rayyan Humanitarian City, located in the village of Shamarin in northern Aleppo Governorate, is one of the largest shelter projects carried out by Qatar Charity so far. The city includes 10 villages with 1,000 pre-fabricated housing units (caravans), which provide shelter for 6,000 displaced persons. It also has a health clinic, schools consisting of 30 classrooms, a mosque and playgrounds for children. The “Competitors Village”, situated in Azaz, a district of the Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, includes 300 pre-fabricated housing units, benefiting 1,800 displaced persons, in addition to a school, mosque and children’s playgrounds.

The city in Wadi Deif, located in northern Syria, includes 400 concrete housing units, providing shelter for 2,400 people. The housing units were allocated to families, whose homes were destroyed during the conflict, to encourage them to return to their villages. The village in Jarabulus, which is located near the Syrian-Turkish border, has 72 concrete housing units, a well and a mosque. The village in Al-Dana, which is located in the Idlib rural area, includes 400 concrete housing units for 2,400 people, in addition to a medical unit, a school, a well, a mosque and shops. The village located on the Turkish-Syrian border in Northern Syria, consists of 400 50sq m housing units. It also includes a mosque, a medical centre, a two-storey school, shops, an administrative building, and an artesian well.

The Shamaryk Village, which is under construction to date, consists of 1,200 residential units, “caravans”, and is expected to benefit 1,200 families. Each of the other three villages in Northern Syria consists of 100 housing units “caravans”, benefiting 100 affected families. Another village consists of 1,000 residential units “caravans”, benefiting 1,000 families. Some 796 housing units (caravans) were provided to 796 affected families in northern Syria. In the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordon, Qatar Charity provided 200 housing units “caravan”, a mosque and a health centre, benefiting 200 families. The organisation also contributed to providing 100 housing units “caravan” to 100 Syrian refugee families in a camp in Bar Elias, a town in the Bekaa Governorate, Lebanon.